At first arriving at our seats, I began to have reservations of how much I would enjoy the performance. It was my first time at that venue and the bleacher-style seating was of uncomfortable hardwood and very cramped. When people tapped their feet or moved to the music while sitting, the benches would shake you. I have to say that I am no fan of crowds and even less when they are condensed into close quarters. In my mind, things were not shaping up well and I feared an unpleasant evening of physical discomfort, loud music that was practically irrecognizable from its original form and people everywhere too close for my liking. But as it turned out, it was a very pleasant experience after all. And the music made all the difference. Once they began to play, their unmistakable sound made me forget the little annoyances around me.
Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of them playing last night, since I didn't bring my camera. I don't think it would have mattered had I had it though. We were sufficiently up in the grandstand so as not to have been able to get a good shot anyway.
What I can tell you was it was a great show. I am not a big fan of live performances. I have seen so very few because often times the artists will change the versions of the songs while playing live (that is why i always prefer the studio version of recordings over the live recordings). Sometimes the changes are only slight, but sometimes the songs are bearly recognizable as compared to their original studio versions. Well, last night, it practically could have been the album versions for the songs they played. There was very little variation in the songs. For me, that made it so much more enjoyable.
This was the first time I had ever heard Jason Scheff sing the songs that Peter Cetera used to do the vocals for. His style is quite close; and obviously he was quite a find for Chicago back in 1985 after Cetera left. He does best when he hits the stronger notes, but with the weaker ones his voice breaks a bit too easily. And he tends to hold certain notes too long. Otherwise, his performance was excellent. And of course Robert Lamm was his fine self as usual. Not to mention all the other members of the band.
In addition to sitting up in the grandstand I had a tall woman sitting in front of me so my view was limited. But, since the band didn't deviate their songs much, I had only to sit and listen, much of the time with my eyes closed, and enjoy. When I did have my eyes open and I wasn't trying to look around the head of the woman in front of me, my eyes rested on a couple in the orchestra seating below, sitting off a bit from the rest of those seated in that section. They caught my eye because they were older and I imagined they had been together a long time. They sat the whole time with his arm around her and her head often resting on his shoulder. Now and then you could see them talking to one another. And at one point he turned and gently kissed the side of her face. (I'm weird. I like to observe people and how they interact.) Chicago is definitely the band to enjoy with an intimate loved one. Their singular style and mostly romantic arrangements lend themselves well to a romantic evening, in my opinion. And so it seemed for that couple last evening.
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